6 January 2006
DSD FUNDING HELPS STABILISE WEST BELFAST INTERFACE
Suffolk Community Forum is to receive £37,000 from the Department for Social Development's (DSD's) Belfast Regeneration Office to stabilise the interface with Lenadoon and to develop community capacity and skills.
The funding will sustain a Community Development Worker post who works closely with Lenadoon community workers to reduce anti-social behaviour. They have established a mobile phone network so that they can communicate with one another when potential disturbances are identified at flashpoints on the interface. The Community Development Worker also represents the Suffolk community on the Stewartstown Road Regeneration Project which has improved the area significantly by developing new shops, a community resource, cross community crèche and playschool facilities and created job opportunities for local people.
Minister for Social Development David Hanson MP said: "Suffolk Community Forum has worked tirelessly with representatives from Lenadoon through the Stewartstown Road Regeneration Project to promote the social, economic and physical regeneration of the area.
"Together the two communities have also been successful in reducing unrest and disturbances along the interface. This is down to the efforts of community workers who set up systems, such as the mobile phone network, which allow both communities to keep in touch and reduce tensions.
"This Neighbourhood Renewal funding will ensure that this valuable work continues and will help reinforce and foster the good working relationships which have already been established between the community leaders of the Suffolk and Lenadoon estates. I would encourage Suffolk Community Forum to share the benefit of its experience with other isolated communities such as Taughmonagh and Benmore so that they can tackle common issues in a more cohesive and structured manner."
Suffolk is a small Protestant enclave inside Catholic West Belfast. It is separated from the Lenadoon estate by the Stewartstown Road which is a major arterial route through West Belfast. The interface has been characterised by years of violence which until recently have largely precluded any inter-community contact or initiatives to address the deprivation experienced by both communities.
Chairperson of Suffolk Community Forum, Mr Harry Hagan, welcomed the announcement: "The Forum appreciate the support received from Belfast Regeneration Office as it will allow us to continue with the valuable work we are doing for the Suffolk community."
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy 'People and Place' was published in June 2003 to close the gap between the quality of life for people in the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of society.
2. The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy has four interlinking strategic objectives:
3. For further information, contact the DSD Information Office on 028 9082 9496.
- Community Renewal - to develop confident communities that are able and committed to improving the quality of life in their areas.
- Economic Renewal - to develop economic activity in the most deprived neighbourhoods and connect them to the wider urban economy.
- Social Renewal - to improve social conditions for the people who live in the most deprived neighbourhoods through better co-ordinated public services and the creation of safer environments.
- Physical Renewal - to help create attractive, safe and sustainable environments in the most deprived neighbourhoods.
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